Celebrities have been used to endorse an array of odd products since the dawn of time. Football great Pele championed the cause of erectile dysfunction, Paris Hilton once pretended to eat a Burger King meal (which was less nauseating and more believable than her attempt at a sex tape) and now we have TV personality Khanyi Mbau singing the praises of the e-toll system.

The first place to start is to watch that video up top. Go on, click play and enjoy the show.

Wow, whoever wrote that drivel should be given a stern talking to. I’m not even talking about the message, I’m talking about the clumsy wording that poor Khanyi is forced to work her way through. And not being able to pay her bond, that’s awful, no one likes to be put under that kind of pressure at home when you’re trying to raise a family.

Then again, perhaps we shouldn’t feel too sorry for her – anyone remember that sick Lambo she used to zoom around in? Of course that was yanked when her sugar daddy decided it was time to move in, the life of a self-proclaimed socialite hey…

Couldn’t good old Kenny have helped her out a little? After all they do go way back…

Anyway, we digress. Aside from being poorly written, activists are unhappy with the Gauteng Provincial Government for wasting money on the campaign, while the Opposition To Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) slammed the ads as a desperate tactic by Sanral “to emboss the failed e-toll system”. Below from Fin24:

“With so many other urgent issues which require funding in Gauteng, it is surprising that the Gauteng Provincial Government would choose to spend money on producing and airing, as well as paying, so-called ‘celebrities’ to promote e-tolling instead of spending it where it is truly needed,” said JPSA.

JPSA said it was disappointed by what it called the Gauteng government taking sides and being “prepared to waste even more money on trying to convince people that tolling our urban routes is ‘the better way to go'”…

Outa said e-tolls would remain an “irrational and unjust double tax” for citizens, and “no amount of sugar coating was going to sweeten the deal or get the people to change their minds to the levels required”.

“The fact that Sanral has chosen to use celebrities to try and sell a defunct policy, as if it were a toothpaste or a washing powder, makes a mockery of the message they are trying to send to the people,” said Outa.

True that, and if they’re going to pay celebs to endorse the concept of paying to use the roads with our tax funds then can they at least hire someone to write some half-decent copy?

[source:fin24]